Lakers-Thunder Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMANPosted Dec 07 2012 2:04PM

Kobe Bryant just became the fifth player in NBA history to surpass 30,000 points.

It seems possible that Kevin Durant will eventually join him on that list.

The league's top two scorers will be in the spotlight Friday night with Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder on a season-high six-game win streak heading into their first meeting with Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers since last season's playoffs.

Bryant added to his status as one of the game's greatest players Wednesday with 29 points in a 103-87 victory at New Orleans, giving him 30,016 for his career. Commissioner David Stern offered Bryant a congratulatory handshake before the Lakers star joined a list that includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

"It's pretty awesome," Bryant said. "These are players I respect tremendously and obviously grew up idolizing and watching and learned a great deal from."

The 24-year-old Durant grew up watching the 34-year-old Bryant. The Thunder star, who became the second-youngest player to reach 10,000 points in the season opener, remains in awe.

"I know he's an old fart," Durant said. "Since I was about 8 years old, watching him dominate every year he's been in the league, it's been a joy to watch. It was just an honor and a blessing to play on his team this summer in the Olympics.

"To get 30,000 points, man, you're one of only five guys to do it so far, it's just an unbelievable accomplishment. It's good to say you've played in the game with a great player, probably the best player in my era that I've ever seen. It's great to have somebody to kind of aim to and look up to and just compete against on a high level."

Durant averaged 26.8 points and Bryant 31.2 in last year's Western Conference semifinal series that Oklahoma City (15-4) won in five games.

That series defeat no doubt caused Los Angeles to make changes, most notably adding superstars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.

Nash has played in only two games due to a leg injury and Howard - coming off back surgery - hasn't been nearly as effective as many expected. The Lakers (9-10) are 4-5 since hiring Mike D'Antoni as coach, although Durant still sees them as a threat in the West.

"It's early in the year, they're a really good team," Durant said. "They've got so many good players, so many champions. They're going to turn this thing around pretty quickly."

Bryant leads the league with 28.0 points per game, but Los Angeles is 1-7 when he scores at least 30. Durant, who scored 32 in Tuesday's 117-111 victory at Brooklyn, is averaging 26.5.

No mention of the Thunder is complete without Russell Westbrook, who victimized the Lakers by averaging 25.6 points against them in last season's playoffs.

In the middle, Howard and Oklahoma City center Serge Ibaka will do battle in a matchup of premier shot blockers. Ibaka averages a league-high 3.3 blocks while Howard is fourth at 2.8.

Lakers big man Pau Gasol has missed the first two games of this three-game trip with tendinitis in both knees, and is expected to be out again Friday. Antawn Jamison has started in his place, scoring 15 points in each game.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Thunder hold off Lakers' late charge, win 114-108

By JEFF LATZKEPosted Dec 08 2012 1:48AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) In a reversal of roles, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers know they're the predators trying to track down Kevin Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder.

They have some work to do.

Durant had 36 points, Russell Westbrook scored 27 of his 33 in the first half to stake Oklahoma City to a commanding lead and the Thunder beat the short-handed Lakers 114-108 Friday night.

"They're a team that everybody likes. As a young team coming up, you always want to beat the best," Westbrook said. "I think that's one of the things that motivates us."

Bryant had 35 points for Los Angeles, which trailed by as many as 19 before rallying to get within four in the final minute.

Dwight Howard added 23 points and 18 rebounds for the Lakers, who were eliminated by the Thunder in five games in last season's Western Conference semifinals. Howard and Steve Nash were part of an offseason overhaul to try and catch up to the Thunder.

Instead, the Lakers are 9-11 and focusing on small gains that give them the belief they'll eventually turn it around.

"It's 82 games. This team has just gotten together," Howard said. "It's not like we're going to get together and start winning right away. ... We're learning how to play together. We're getting better. This is not on anybody's time table but ours."

Westbrook's big first half put the Thunder in control, but L.A. charged back with a late 27-12 run to make it interesting.

The game grew tense when Metta World Peace - already a public enemy in Oklahoma City after he clocked James Harden last season - and Serge Ibaka each got technical fouls for a confrontation in the closing minutes.

World Peace grabbed Ibaka's back and the two barked at each other face to face and chest to chest, with Ibaka then grasping the back of World Peace's jersey. Ibaka rared back with his right fist clenched, but the two were separated before it escalated any further.

"It's always like that with us, especially Metta World Peace and Serge," Durant said. "Those guys are just playing hard. I don't think it was nothing malicious or bad plays, just guys playing hard."

The Lakers never backed down. After trailing by 12 with 1:32 remaining, Jodie Meeks drove for a pair of layups and Chris Duhon followed with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 110-105. Bryant followed Durant's two free throws with a 3-pointer from the corner to get the deficit down to four with 15 seconds left.

Durant hit two foul shots and Meeks airballed a 3-pointer as the rally fizzled.

"They're a tough team," Durant said. "They fought hard all night and made it tough on us."

That it even ended up so close was a surprise after how the first half went, with Westbrook red hot and Oklahoma City outscoring L.A. 26-8 in fast-break points on its way to a 14-point lead.

Westbrook was in attack mode right from the start with Los Angeles missing top point guards Nash (left leg) and Steve Blake (abdominal surgery), plus All-Star forward Pau Gasol for the third straight game with tendinitis in both knees. Westbrook buried 3-pointers on two of Oklahoma City's first three possessions on his way to making a career-best five from behind the arc - all in the first half.

"That's as good as I've seen him shoot the ball," Bryant said.

When Westbrook missed his first eight shots of the second half, Durant helped pick up the slack. He made a jumper, a 3-pointer and a runner for a personal 7-0 run that increased Oklahoma City's edge to 85-66 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.

That 19-point cushion was restored with 7:42 left in the game when Nick Collison took a charge at one end and then dunked at the other to make it 100-81. The Lakers didn't have quite enough to come back.

"We all know that the Lakers are one of the best teams," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "They don't have the record right now but they will. They're going to get some guys healthy and they're going to get some rhythm but they have the best center in basketball and they have one of the best players ever."

That still wasn't enough.

The Thunder charged ahead in the second quarter, just as they'd done in each of their previous five games - outscoring opponents by 55 points in the period during that span.

After directing a 10-0 run earlier in the quarter, Westbrook connected on back-to-back jumpers from the right elbow and assisted on Ibaka's jumper before making a 3 from the left wing.

To top it all off, he made his fifth 3-pointer while getting fouled by Duhon - then still went ahead with his usual celebration move of acting as though he were holstering his hands even while lying on his back.

NOTES: Howard spent time near the end of the Lakers' shootaround practicing his free throws, with Nash - a 90-percent foul shooter in his career - offering suggestions and even mimicking a follow through. At one point, Howard made eight in a row. "My mind cannot get clouded with everybody telling me how to shoot a free throw," said Howard, who's shooting 47 percent at the line this season. "I just have to go up there and shoot it my way and not get caught up with what everybody else is saying because that's when I miss." ... The Lakers went to see the movie "Lincoln" on their day off Thursday. Bryant joked that he didn't know what was taught in school anymore and some of his teammates might not have known Abraham Lincoln's story. "I'm curious to see if you took a poll who knew," Bryant said. "Maybe it came as a great shock to them that Lincoln died at the end of the film." ... Bryant didn't argue when told that Durant called him an "old fart." He said he calls Durant "Similac," a brand of baby formula. ... Oklahoma City recalled Daniel Orton, Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones III from Tulsa of the NBA development league. Jones was on crutches with a sprained left ankle the team referred to as mild.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Thunder 114, Lakers 108

THE FACTS: The Oklahoma City Thunder built a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter and then had to hold off a late Lakers charge to claim a 114-108 win behind 69 points from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. It's Oklahoma City's seventh straight win and 15th in the last 17 games.

Durant led the way with 36 points (one short of his season-high), nine rebounds and four assists. Westbrook added 33 points and eight assists. It's the 21st time in their careers that Durant and Westbrook have gone over 30 points in the same game. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 35 points and Dwight Howard added 23 while pulling down 18 rebounds. 10 of Howard's boards came in the first quarter.

Oklahoma City had five players in double figures, in addition to Durant and Westbrook, Serge Ibaka scored 14, Nick Collison came off the bench to score 13 points and take three charges. Kevin Martin added 11.

The Lakers had four players hit double digits, Bryant and Howard plus a season-high 17 from Jodie Meeks (eight of those in the fourth quarter) and 14 from Chris Duhon.

The Lakers dominated the Thunder on the glass, outrebounding them 45-36 and L.A. had a 44-38 advantage in points in the paint but OKC ripped the Lakers on the fast break 28-8.

QUOTABLE: "That was a solid win, we had some very good stretches but then in the second half we had some not so good stretches. We relaxed some on defense in the second half." -- Thunder head coach Scott Brooks.

THE STAT: In the second quarter the Thunder outshot the Lakers 68.2 percent to 36.4 percent and outscored them 41-26 to grab hold of the game. It almost slipped away in the fourth quarter when the Lakers outshot OKC 55.0 percent to 37.5 percent and outscored the Thunder 33-25.

QUOTABLE II: "We got a long way to go, we did a terrible job of finishing this game out."-- Durant.

TURNING POINT: That second quarter put the Lakers in a hole they just couldn't dig out of. OKC went on a 17-3 run and scored 32 points over the last eight minutes of the second quarter.

QUOTABLE III: "They're a good team and I thought the first half, really the second quarter, Westbrook got loose a little bit (14 points in 2nd quarter) but we fought back and I thought we played hard. When Westbrook does that, going vertical and stopping on a dime, you kind of just have to tip your hat to him."-- Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni.

HOT: The Thunder hit their first three 3-pointers and five of their first six...Howard grabbed 10 rebounds in the first quarter (the most in any quarter this season)...Westbrook was 5-for-6 on 3-pointers in the first half (the five made threes ties his career high)...Durant hit five straight shots in the first half (after missing his first three)...OKC was 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) on 3-pointers in the first half and shot 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) for the game.

NOT: Ibaka was 2-for-7 in the first quarter...Bryant was 1-for-5...Lakers shot 37.8 percent in the first half and ended the game at 42.9 percent.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Metta World Peace has never been particularly popular with Thunder fans but ever since he cold-cocked (with elbow) former Thunder star James Harden last season they've really gotten on him and that was no different tonight. Chesapeake Energy Arena's 79th straight sellout crowd booed World Peace every time he touched the ball.

GOOD MOVE: Westbrook with a lightning quick move around Howard in the lane late in the first quarter and then finishing with a tomahawk slam.

BAD MOVE: The Lakers packed the paint and Howard disrupted some of the Thunder inside offense daring OKC to shoot from beyond the arc. The strategy backfired in the early going as the Thunder shot a blistering 72.7 percent (8-for-11) on long balls in the first half.

NOTABLE: Westbrook tied his career high for made threes (five) in the first half. His 27 first half points were the most he's scored in any first half of his career...The 67 points by the Thunder in the first half were the most OKC has scored in any first half this season and the most allowed by the Lakers...OKC has now scored 100 or more points in 11 straight games (the longest such streak since 1995)...The Lakers are now 9-11 and it's just the third time since the 1979-80 season L.A. has been below .500 through 20 games...OKC has now beaten the Lakers in eight of their last 10 meetings.